Friday, September 28, 2012

This blog post was submitted in person by Rebecca, who came by Imagine!’s Coal Creek office today to watch the National Forum on Disability Issues debate on a webcast.

I am still working two jobs, polishing and rolling silverware at both Rock Bottom Restaurant and the Chophouse in Boulder. I am saving money from my paychecks to take a trip to Richmond, Virginia to visit my aunt and uncle. Have a nice weekend!

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

This blog post was tape recorded during an interview requested by Jessica.

On July 26th, my dad and I left for New York City to celebrate my birthday. The trip didn’t start off so good, our flight was delayed for six hours, and we didn’t arrive in New York until after midnight. We had to stop in Elmira, New York for a couple hours due to bad weather, went to Syracuse to refuel, and then landed in La Guardia airport. Unfortunately because we were so late our rental car was gone, but we finally got one after waiting for two hours.

Finally, we were on our way to New Jersey to find my second cousin’s house, and we arrived there at 4:00 AM. We visited for a while and at 5:30 AM we went out for breakfast. I got about an hour’s sleep, and then we went to visit another cousin. We all went for a walk on the beach, it was humid but we enjoyed seeing the waves from the boardwalk. We had lunch on the beach, then went to visit another cousin. I visited a lot of relatives that day, and we out to a Chinese restaurant around 11:30 PM, and at midnight it was my birthday so I got some presents and cake.

On the way home, we drove by the stadiums where the Jets, Giants, and Mets play. I said hi to all the stadiums, and I said hi to the Statue of Liberty too, hearing “Happy birthday” in my own way of hearing that other people don’t typically hear.

I got a decent night’s sleep that night, and on my birthday, the 28th, my dad and I went to Yankee Stadium to watch the Yankees play the Red Sox. We got there early enough to watch batting practice, but then it began raining and the 4:05 game time was moved back to 7:00. The Yankees started off ahead after hitting some home runs, but the Red Sox won the game. I didn’t want the Red Sox, who I cannot stand, to win that game. But the good thing is I was on the Jumbotron, holding my sign. The game ended around 11:00 PM.

We got a little sleep, and our flight back to Denver left at 5:30 am. I was exhausted but am glad I got to go to New York City for my birthday.

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

I have a great success story. I work with a consumer, Jessie Irvin, who has been an Imagine! consumer for years. She is in her twenties and was born with a physical disability in her legs. Jessie has no femurs and uses a wheelchair to get around.

Recently, she started going to physical therapy for pain in her back. While at physical therapy it was determined that part of her pain was due to lack of movement. She worked with her therapist and practiced walking. Jessie had not walked in over six years!!! She was so excited and proud of herself that she stopped by Imagine! just to show me. Jessie took four steps on her own! She reported to me that she had taken 40 steps while at physical therapy which is a huge success for Jessie.

She has set a new goal for herself to walk at least five hundred steps so that she can finally start roller blading again. I am so very happy for Jessie and can’t wait for her continued progress.

Monday, September 24, 2012

Recently I was at Foothills Group Home taking a photo of one of the staff members for a newsletter article about an award she received. When I was leaving, Robert, one of the residents of the home, was near the front door and politely asked if there was anything he could do to be in the Imagine! newsletter. I told him I was certain there was, and asked him what his interests are. He mentioned art, and said he had a picture in his bedroom that he drew in high school that I might be interested in seeing.

Robert proceeded to show me the art and told me the process of how he decided what to draw in the picture. Robert‘s art teacher at Jefferson High School suggested that Robert find some pictures that he liked in magazines and use them for models for different parts of his art. Robert started by choosing to draw the picture with charcoal and pencil. He saw a picture of mountains that he liked, so mountains was the first thing he drew. Then he drew the large ship, fashioned after a large ship he saw in a photo. Then he found a photo of a man in a rowboat which he liked so he drew a man in a rowboat next. As he continued looking through magazines, he saw a picture of a helicopter and decided to put a helicopter into his drawing. Finally, since there were two ships in the picture he added the ocean, and that’s how he came to draw this wonderful piece of art.

Robert’s interest in art began when he was a child drawing in coloring books. Navy blue is his favorite color, followed by red and orange. Animals are his favorite thing to draw. When asked what he likes to do, Robert replied, “I like to help people, that's my favorite thing to do.”

The piece of art shown here has sentimental value to Robert. He wrapped the picture and gave it to his grandfather as a present. Unfortunately his grandfather died unexpectedly soon afterwards. Robert’s grandmother knew the artwork was special to Robert and she returned it to him to serve as a reminder of his grandfather, a former Marine whose picture hangs on Robert’s wall near his artwork.

This piece of art that he drew in high school hangs over Robert's bed.

Friday, September 21, 2012

Boulder Family Farms, located at 1005 Cherryvale Road in Boulder, provides gardening space to Imagine!’s CORE/Labor Source gardening class. This week the class harvested beets, cucumbers, and carrots, then washed and sliced them to put into pickling jars. Once the vegetables were in jars, canning and pickling salt was added to the vegetables to suck out some of the water. Then the water was drained and the jar filled up with ½ water and ½ apple cider vinegar, and some dill seed and dill weed and garlic was added.

The class members all got to take a jar of pickled vegetables home with them, and the veggies will be ready to eat in 24 – 48 hours in the refrigerator. In the photo are Gabe and Karena shaking the jars to spread around the canning and pickling salt.

When asked what is his favorite part of gardening, Gabe replied, “Getting to eat what we grow.”

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Hi. This is Lana. I left on Friday morning to go to Glenwood Springs. I got up at 4:30 to ride the train to Glenwood Springs for the weekend. I had a great time. The trip was fun. We got into the Hot Spring until I started itching. But I had fun. We went shopping, had fried chicken, and went to a Mexican restaurant. I stayed in a hotel overnight. I loved the train ride, and we saw a bunch of deer on the way back. That’s all I’ve got to say, talk to you later, bye.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

This blog post was submitted on Tuesday, September 18, via audio email by John. The Advocacy Council meeting John refers to is an Imagine! Innovations Advocacy Council that John is a volunteer member of. Some of the topics discussed at last month’s meeting were: “Community involvement versus community inclusion/acceptance”; “Voter registration and responsibilities of voting”; and “How to incorporate individuals with high needs into meetings and proceedings.”

Hi, This is your friend John speaking. I just want to say hi, and to let you know I went to the Advocacy Council meeting so I had fun with that. Another thing I like is when you write me back I always really enjoy it. Here’s a good joke. “When is a door not a door? When it’s ajar.” Another one is, “What kind of cheese isn’t yours? Nacho cheese.” Have a good night, bye bye.

A couple weeks ago, Loren, a resident of the Charles Family SmartHome in Longmont, enjoyed a beverage at the Sun Rose Café in Longmont with Jennifer, one of the staff members at the Charles Family SmartHome.

Sunday, September 16, 2012

This blog post was submitted via audio email by Mandy on Friday, September 14th.

Hi, this is Mandy. I really just want to tell you I had a great day at CORE. On Wednesday September 12th, I had gardening class in the morning, and in the afternoon we went to the Flower Bin in Longmont. On Thursday, September 13th, I had writing class and job club class. On Friday, which was today, I had my radio show class in the afternoon and photo class in the morning. I will talk to you soon, have a great weekend. Bye.

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Note: A group of University of Colorado Engineering students in a 2012 Spring Semester class taught by Associate Professor Melinda Piket-May worked on projects to design adaptive technologies to aid increased independence for some of the individuals Imagine! serves. This video shows a "Wheel of Fortune" board, which can help teach about cause and effect, math skills, numbers, money, and turn taking. Here's how the game is played: Players push a button and a light starts going around a “Wheel of Fortune,” then push the button again, making the wheel stop on a spot that corresponds with a coin. The players mark that coin on a score card. Everyone gets five turns. At the end of the game, players add up the coins marked and answer questions about what they can buy with that much money, how many quarters are in a dollar, what they would do if they had a million dollars, and other questions designed to get players to learn while having fun. In case you missed it, here’s a video of the CU Students explaining how the technology for the “Wheel of Fortune” works.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Last Friday, Two Hands Paperie, located at 803 Pearl Street in Boulder, invited Bob, who receives services from Imagine!, to be their visiting artist. Bob's string art will be on display at the store throughout the rest of September. Please consider stopping by and checking out Bob's art and the wide variety of paper products at Two Hands Paperie, including note cards, decorative paper, 2013 calendars, books, and more.

This picture was taken from inside Two Hands Paperie.
Bob's string art is displayed in the front window.

Friday afternoon, being the visiting artist at Two Hands
Paperie, and relaxing with a ball of string. All in all a very pleasant
afternoon for Bob.

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

I want to know if you are going to say good bye to Andrew (Andrew has been a SmartHome staff member since the SmartHome opened) because he’s going away. Next Thursday the 13th of September is his last day and I hope that you’ll come and say hello to all of us and to Andrew because he’s going to Indonesia. He’s leaving on October 1st, so I just want to send you that message.

I want to tell you a nice, good joke. “Why did the chicken cross the road? Well, it had to be on the other side.”

Friday, September 7, 2012

Hi. I took a tour through the Broncos stadium. I went down to the field, and I also went up to the box where you can watch the Bronco game. Talk to you later.

Lana is in the back of this photo taken on the field at Sports Authority Stadium where Lana and her housemates from the Bob and Judy Charles SmartHome took a tour. One of their counselors, Brent, works at the stadium and arranged for the residents to take this tour.

Hi, This is John. We went to the Broncos tour. I went to the locker room, the football field, and it was a great time. I had fun and we went to the pro shop as well. I have one joke to tell you. “Why did the cookie end up in the hospital? Because it felt crummy.”

Thursday, September 6, 2012

This blog post was sent via audio email by Mandy on Tuesday, August 28.

Hi. This is Mandy. It is August 28 on a Tuesday afternoon. I’m glad to be talking to you. What I did today was I went to CORE and I had Life Skills Class and we talked about self-expression and all of the different ways possible that you can communicate.

I also had Cooking Class. We made cookies and we had coleslaw. I will talk to you soon, and I hope you have a great day. Bye.

This blog post was submitted via audio email by Donna, on Tuesday, August 28th.

Hey, this is Donna. I was just wanting to email you to let you know I had an awesome day today and I’m looking forward to doing more at work and at CORE. On the days that I’m off work, I’m looking forward to doing more at CORE. And so are they, they’re looking forward to me doing more, like arts and crafts, and music.

Yesterday, we went to go see the Broncos field at Mile High (Sports Authority Stadium) and had an awesome time. We enjoyed ourselves, and it is a huge field. They can seat about 400 people plus, and I was amazed. I’ll talk to you later. Bye bye.

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Rebecca in front, Donna in orange, and Lana at Sports Authority Stadium Monday, August 27.

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From left: Lana, Donna, and Gerald on the way to Sports Authority Stadium for a tour.